Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Random plant event: Anacampseros rufescens flower

I've yet to try growing an Anacampseros rufescens; they're not available very often, and so far when I've seen one for sale, there were more interesting plants to be bought, or it had bugs, or the price was bad. It's not an urgent, must-acquire plant for me anyway: it looks like one of those succulents for which no amount of light is going to be enough (like Pachyphytum, or some of the Euphorbias and Sedums). I've had enough of those.

But, it does flower, and the flowers are kind of cute. This is a plant from the ex-job, from a very long time ago when I still worked there. I realize that the photo doesn't show the plant itself very well: this was back when I could only take a tiny number of pictures before the batteries died. That sort of thing gives a person a very narrow focus. Things are better now. (Now, I likely average 75-100 pictures per day, the overwhelming majority of which you never see.)


I haven't seen any others in flower, but this particular plant was a lot larger than any I'd seen before or since (6-inch hanging basket, I think, as opposed to the usual 2- or 3-inch pot), and therefore probably also quite a bit older. Which likely has something to do with it.

Have you ever had an Anacampseros? How did that work out? I ask in case I happen to see one for sale again.


6 comments:

SiestaSister said...

I had one sitting along the front walkway where it got morning sun. I thought it was going to bloom, a tiny stem grew, but no flower. When our summer rains started (it has been raining like crazy in sw Florida) I moved it to the outside window sill in the back of the house. It loves that afternoon sun and has been growing like crazy!

Karen715 said...

I've got one. Because it is not one of my favorite succulents,* it gets only a so-so position indoors in the winter. It is crowded behind some other succulents near the south window in the winter, where it gets some sun, but not as much as it would like. It loses a little color and gets a little stretched, but it survives and doesn't look too unhappy. On the other hand, I do put it outside in the summer. That's a long-winded way of saying no, it isn't too fussy.

*No reason, just that while I love my Aloes, Echeverias and Crassulas, I only kinda like Anacampseros.

Thomas said...

Mine was a stowaway (seedling?) in a pot with something else. It's now filling in a 2.5" pot under 100 watt equiv. CFUs in my propagation growing-on space. It hasn't bloomed, but the leaves are a beautiful deep purple red. I'd count flowers a bonus. I'm with SiestaSister & Karen715, with enough light it's been easy.

Anonymous said...

I love mine. It would probably be the size of a 2 1/2 inch pot now. And this year it had three flowers. I wanted to catch the seed pods and get the seeds, but as often happens two of them opened when I wasn't looking. I was even more vigilant after that and got a nice bunch of seeds from the third flower. You can see the relationship to Portulaca in the seed pods and the tiny seeds. Definitely sort of cute and very undemanding (if you have sun or light for it).

Nancy in Sun Lakes AZ said...

I have one that I put in a bonsai pot and it looks pretty good. I have it in morning sun in Phoenix because I usually burn everything, but it is not enough! It is green with no red at all. I'm going to run out now and put it in sun all day. I want it to flower too. Hope I don't kill it!

Sea Star Studios said...

I have one that I bought a few months ago in a tiny 2-inch pot. I repotted it to a 6-inch pot and have it on my front porch, and it's going crazy! Now, mind you, I live in Central California in a hot, arid climate (we're basically an irrigated desert!). My front porch is west-facing and as you can imagine, is hot, dry and gets tons of light. My little A. rufescens has been blooming and seems very happy!

I've long since given up on growing tropical stuff outdoors, so my front porch has become a succulent/cactus garden.